Water, tax abatement, asbestos abatement considered

The Otero County Commissioners considered several matters of importance at their Monday meeting.

The Otero County Commissioners considered several matters of importance at their Monday meeting.

Wayne Snider appeared with a corrected copy of the state Colorado Water Resources & Power Development Authority. The offending sentence was corrected to read, "This grant is intended to help bring actual construction work for the water system to fruition in a timely manner." The commissioners quickly voted to approve the enabling $10,000 grant for legal fees for special district formation in an effort to bring three small water companies into compliance with state regulations regarding the drinking water they supply. These companies are Valley Water, Vroman Water and Fayette. Sam Fosdick accompanied Snider at the meeting. The men are confident they can overcome the obstacles and work with the three companies together to get a workable plan for working under state rules with the help of Eric Stowe and his wife, who are doing some of the legal work pro bono.

Bryan Bryant presented Oliver Manufacturing for the personal property tax incentive program. The company employs 71, with 14 being new primary jobs. The quota of primary jobs to be eligible for the tax relief is 11 to 15 for the size company Oliver is. They must be certified on an annual basis to continue to be eligible. The tax relief is for 50 percent of the county personal property tax. For taxing purposes, manufacturing equipment is considered to be personal property. The length of the abatement is seven years. If more new employees are added, the abatement may be extended.

Assistant Director of Public Works Lex Nichols presented Howard Baker, a certified asbestos inspector, who can do inspections of property to determine percentages of asbestos, including buildings scheduled for demolition. Abatement must be made on a structure that contains more than one percent asbestos. If the building is not to be torn down, the asbestos may be encapsulated (Baker said almost anything, including paint, will encapsulate it). A trace amount of less than one percent is not considered to be a problem. Baker's rates are considerably lower than those of his nearest competitors in Pueblo.

The county sales tax is down 2.61 percent from last year ($3,299.19), not as severe as last month's 4.33 percent. County Administrator Jean Hinkle has hopes that as the construction of Front Range Pipeline begins, the deficit will be erased.

Hinkle also reported that all county offices, landfills and courts will be closed on Monday in honor of Memorial Day. The regular meeting of the county commissioners will be held at 1:30 p.m on Tuesday, May 28. The following week, there will be no county commissioners' meeting because two of the commissioners will be at the Colorado Counties Inc. meeting.

The county allocation of Frying Pan Arkansas project water is now at 86 percent of average, three times that of last year, reported Commissioner Kevin Karney. Many factors control the supply of water. If the snowpack melts too fast, the water will come down so fast some of it will be lost. Other factors also may affect the water supply. Asked by Fosdick about the effect of the Conduit on the supply of agricultural water, Karney said there will be no effect, because the type of the water supply is different. For further information, talk with Karney.